Vandals set $150,000 dragon boats on fire

Page Tools

Damage . . . smoke from the grounds of Glebe High School billows across the Sydney skyline yesterday.Photo:Matthew Warnken

A group of teenagers may have started a fire in the grounds of Glebe High School, destroying 12 dragon boats worth $150,000, witnesses said yesterday.

The boats, three of which were new, were owned by Dragon Boats NSW, whose members were training for the World Championships in China.

"I'm so angry," the organisation's president, Melanie Cantwell, said last night. "Our Australian team is going overseas to compete soon and now they can't train."

Four fire crews were called to Glebe High at 4.50pm after reports that racks carrying the boats were on fire.

Barry Anderson, a local resident, said he was just pulling up at the nearby pub when he smelt the smoke. "I looked across and there were some flames there and then I saw five or six young blokes - aged about 15, I'd say - take off up the road," he said.

"I don't know if they had anything to do with it but they was running. Usually kids stop and watch fire."

Another witness saw youths running west along Pyrmont Bridge Road after the fire was lit.

A police spokesman said the fire was being treated as arson.

AdvertisementAdvertisement

Ms Cantwell said it was not the first time the boats had been targeted. "Last week one was pushed in the water. The boats are 12 metres long and weigh 250 kilograms so it's not like one person chucked it in," she said.

On Sunday night there was an attempt to set them alight. "Some of our guys had come back in from training and saw the fire smouldering under a seat," she said. "They were able to put it out before it took hold. It seems it wasn't good enough for them, so they came back for a second attempt."

Ms Cantwell said the Australian team was due to compete in the World Championships in Shanghai on October 21.

"Our team is training five times a week - now what are they going to do?"